Ibrahim Hassan, Egypt's team manager, has broken his silence to defend his brother Hossam Hassan, Egypt's head coach, against the criticism of recent weeks. He laid bare shocking personal and health-related details of his brother's suffering and sacrifices for the national team, and aimed sharp messages at certain media figures and former colleagues.
Ibrahim posted his remarks on his personal "Facebook" account amid growing talk about the future of the coaching staff. Media reports had revealed that officials inside the Egyptian Football Association were weighing up whether to remove Hossam from his post, despite his leading Egypt to qualification for the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
He opened with a broadside at those attacking his brother, questioning why anyone would want to spoil the joy of the Egyptian public. "Fear God when it comes to Egypt," he wrote. "Why do you want to break the joy of good people and of the children who have gone back to memorising the shirt and emblem of their national team and the colours of Egypt's flag? Ask Egyptians living abroad about their children, who had almost forgotten the colours and shape of their country's flag, but then remembered the coming together of the people and their joy during and after the matches, and remembered the respect of the entire world for Egypt's national team".
"Remember Hossam Hassan, the devoted man who loves his country, who sacrifices himself to make Egypt happy," he added. "Which of us is without mistakes or trials in his life? Despite all his personal circumstances, he has his work and the name of his country, and he leaves everything behind him for the sake of the national team. Why do we fight in this way at every turn? And why does the ferocious war against us begin before every training camp?".
Attack on media figures and former colleagues
The team manager turned to what he called a state of spite and unjustified attacks from some of his former colleagues and media figures. The successes of the coaching staff, he insisted, should drive support for the project rather than contempt for it.
"Why all this resentment from colleagues with whom we used to eat from one plate, and with whom we carried one banner, that of Egypt's flag?" he said. "And why this constant attack from most media figures, and the belittling of any success we achieve, in every matter big and small? Why do we exaggerate small things and forget the principles on which the Egyptian people were raised?".
Next came a message to the coaches who covet the national team job. Their chance may hinge on the current project succeeding, Ibrahim argued, whereas failure could make the association far more cautious in its choices.
"A piece of advice and a message to the colleagues who wish to be in his place," he explained. "The success of Hossam and me is what will later give you the chance to be there in his place, because the decision-maker will be reassured by our experience and will give you your chance without fear, instead of resorting to a foreign coach. But if I fail, the chance will not come to you".
Serious health details: Hossam Hassan escaped death
Then came the most striking passage. Ibrahim revealed that his brother suffered repeated heart attacks during camps, matches and qualifiers, and that he underwent delicate medical interventions that nearly ended in tragedy.
"There is a piece of information I did not want to reveal," he said. "Do you know that Hossam suffered, more than once during the camps, matches and qualifiers, an angina attack, and that he was saved by electric shocks in the final moments? And a short while later he underwent the fitting of stents, then entered the operating room again a month later, and they told me the operation would only take an hour so that I would not feel afraid".
He waited for his brother to come out of the operating room while doctors offered shifting answers for the delay. The real truth only emerged later, when he met the surgeon during a visit to the hospital for some tests.
"A few days later I went to the hospital for routine tests, and I met by chance the doctor who performed the operation," he continued. "And he told me that he had been hiding from me the reason for the delay, which was that there was a high probability that Hossam would not have come out of the operating room alive, because the operation was on the arteries of the heart and was extremely complicated".
Ibrahim also recalled a difficult moment during the Brazil match. His brother could not walk or stand normally after the operation, yet insisted on appearing in front of the players and the cameras so they would not sense his condition and lose heart.
"After the operation he was not able to walk or stand, and the situation was extremely difficult," he said. "So that the cameras or the players would not notice anything that affected their morale, I asked him to sit down, but he insisted on standing on the touchline".
Only a tiny circle knew any of this, Ibrahim stressed, among them his brother, the doctor Mohamed Abu El Ela and the medical team at the hospital. He closed by vowing that none of the suffering would stop the pair from carrying on with the national team.
"All these details were known to no one, not even my brothers, except for Dr Mohamed Abu El Ela and the team of doctors at the hospital," he said. "Forgive me, it is me unburdening myself because of all this ingratitude and the wars that Hossam and I are subjected to, but they will not be able to bring us down or stop us, because Egypt deserves this sacrifice from us".
The football association's statement and the national team's preparations
The Egyptian Football Association issued an official statement on Saturday calling for calm and solidarity. It urged the media and the public to steer clear of the escalation and the outbursts that could affect the national team's preparations for the upcoming fixtures.
Egypt prepare to face Malawi in the third and fourth rounds of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers this November, with both Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan absent from the touchline. FIFA have suspended the pair for three matches over the events of the Egypt and Argentina match at the 2026 World Cup.
Egypt sit in Group Two alongside Angola, South Sudan and Malawi. They top the table with 4 points, ahead of Angola in second on goal difference, while Malawi occupy third with 3 points and South Sudan prop up the group without any points.
The campaign began with a goalless draw against Angola at home. Egypt then found their rhythm with a 5-0 thrashing of South Sudan away from home.